Systems and methods for facilitating secure access to law-related services

ABSTRACT

A system and method of providing secure access to a plurality of law related services is provided. The litigation management component can provide secure access to a plurality of law related services. Services securely accessed by the litigation management component can be based, at least in part, upon a subscription level, a client identifier, a user identifier and/or a group identifier.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. Non-Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 10/345,497, filed Jan. 16, 2003, and which is titled “SYSTEMAND METHOD FACILITATING MANAGEMENT OF LAW RELATED SERVICE(S).”The aboveapplication is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of litigation management,and, more particularly to systems and methods for providing secureaccess to a plurality of law related services.

BACKGROUND

Knowledge management for the legal field has been an increasinglydifficult task as computer technology has been developed. Law firms havecreated information technology departments to deal with issue(s) relatedto law related computer technology. In some cases, the costs associatedwith maintaining computer technology can be restrictive and/orprohibitive to smaller firms, sole practitioners and/orcase(s)/project(s) with a short engagement.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is notintended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or todelineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to presentsome concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to themore detailed description that is presented later.

The present invention provides for a system and method of providingsecure access to a plurality of law related services. In accordance withan aspect of the present invention, a litigation management componenthaving a litigation room component and a communications component isprovided.

The litigation management component can provide secure access to aplurality of law related services. The services can include, forexample, an expert witness data store, a word processing system, alegacy computer system, a time entry system, a billing system, acollaboration tool, an accounts receivable accounting system, anaccounts payable accounting system, a document management system, a filemanagement system, a document storage system, a docketing system, a casemanagement system, an electronic research system, an e-mail system(e.g., encrypted e-mail), an instant messenger system, a court reporterdata store, a translation service system and/or a foreign servicesystem. Thus, the litigation management component can reduce cost(s)(e.g., facilities and/or personnel) associated with purchasing, leasingand/or maintaining services (e.g., software and/or hardware).

The litigation management component facilitates secure access to theservices. In one example, the litigation management component is used bya plurality of law practices (e.g., firms) for legal work related to aparticular client. In another example, the litigation managementcomponent is used by entities (e.g., attorneys, paralegals and/orsecretaries) associated with a particular law firm. In yet a thirdexample, the litigation management component is used by a plurality oflaw practices (e.g., firms) associated with a particular legal endeavor(e.g., transaction, case and/or particular type of case). In a fourthexample, the litigation management component is used by a plurality oflaw practices (e.g., firms) to access software programs and/orassociated data. For example, the litigation management component canassist company(ies) and/or law firm(s) to develop a case informationrepository to facilitate the management of data for litigation. Thelitigation management component thus serves as a portal for secureaccess to the services.

Through the communications component, the litigation managementcomponent can be securely accessed by a local system via, for example,the Internet, a parallel electrical connection, a serial electricalconnection, an intranet, a cable television connection, a DigitalSubscriber Line, a telephone line, a cable modem, a wireless datacommunications link and/or an integrated services digital network.

The communications component facilitates secure communication betweenthe litigation room component of the litigation management component andthe local system. For example, protocol(s) such as Internet ProtocolSecurity (IPSEC), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and/or Secure HyperTextTransfer Protocol (S-HTTP) can be employed by the communicationscomponent to facilitate secure communication.

In one example, the litigation management component provides a secure,integrated, web-based litigation toolset of services (e.g., softwareproducts). In this example, the litigation management component isaccessed via the Internet from one or a plurality of local systems.

In another example, the litigation management component is used by aplurality of law practices (e.g., firms) for legal work related to aparticular client. As such, legal work for the particular client can beperformed in a more uniform, cost effective, efficient manner.

Further, the litigation management component can facilitate secureaccess to services to a small firm and/or sole practitioner. The lawrelated services can be made available based, at least in part, forexample, upon a subscription level (e.g., per month fee, pay per usageand/or user selection). Thus, even a sole practitioner can have accessto the services without incurring the large capital expenditurestypically associated with purchasing and/or leasing law relatedservices.

Services securely accessed by the litigation management component can bebased, at least in part, upon a subscription level, a client identifier,a user identifier and/or a group identifier.

Further, the litigation room component can employ a plurality ofsuitable artificial intelligence (AI) based schemes in connection withproviding a meaningful legal services related experience in accordancewith the subject invention. As used herein, the term “inference” refersgenerally to the process of reasoning about or inferring states of thesystem, environment, and/or user from a set of observations as capturedvia events and/or data. Inference can be employed to identify a specificcontext or action, or can generate a probability distribution overstates, for example. The inference can be probabilistic—that is, thecomputation of a probability distribution over states of interest basedon a consideration of data and events. Inference can also refer totechniques employed for composing higher-level events from a set ofevents and/or data. Such inference results in the construction of newevents or actions from a set of observed events and/or stored eventdata, whether or not the events are correlated in close temporalproximity, and whether the events and data come from one or severalevent and data sources.

The litigation room component can employ a classifier trained explicitlyas well as implicitly so as to facilitate inferring a user's intendedgoals in connection with using the subject invention. Variousclassification approaches include support vector machines (SVMs),Bayesian networks, decision trees, and probabilistic classificationmodels providing different patterns of independence may be employed.Text classification as used herein also is inclusive of statisticalregression that is utilized to develop models of priority.

According to one aspect of the invention Support Vector Machines (SVM),which are well understood, are employed as the classifier. It is to beappreciated that other classifier models may also be utilized such asNaive Bayes, Bayes Net, decision tree and other learning models. SVM'sare configured via a learning or training phase within a classifierconstructor and feature selection module. A classifier is a functionthat maps an input attribute vector, x=(x1, x2, x3, x4, xn), to aconfidence that the input belongs to a class—that is,f(x)=confidence(class). In the case of text classification, attributesare words or phrases or other domain-specific attributes derived fromthe words (e.g., parts of speech, presence of key terms), and theclasses are categories or areas of interest (e.g., levels ofpriorities).

Thus, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention, thelitigation room component, after receiving certain attribute information(e.g., client code, name, nature of activity etc.) can employ theaforementioned AI schemes to infer user intentions and desires inaccordance with the subject invention. For example, upon a userselecting a particular service, the litigation room component can infer(e.g., based upon user input and other state information) relatedservices that the user will need and fetch, cache such services inanticipation of the user need so as to facilitate speed of the system aswell as use, enjoyment and throughput of the system.

The invention can facilitate substantial reduction in legal fees forvarious entities. With respect to small entities (e.g., solopractitioners, small law firms etc.) the invention can aggregate variousentities within a particular portal and provide the aggregated groupvolume discounts—of course, sub-portals within the portal arecontemplated for security reasons. With respect to large organizations,the invention can provide a portal wherein vendors for that organizationconduct their respective tasks within the portal thereby mitigatingvendor mark-up of disbursements as well as wasteful use. Moreover, suchportal can greatly facilitate tracking of billable work by outside aswell as inside attorneys conducting work on behalf of the organization.

The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detailcertain illustrative aspects of the invention. These aspects areindicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which theprinciples of the invention may be employed and the present invention isintended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Otheradvantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent fromthe following detailed description of the invention when considered inconjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a litigation management component inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a litigation management system inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a litigation management system inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a litigation management system inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a litigation management system inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a litigation management system inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary user interface in accordance with an aspect ofthe present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method of providing litigationmanagement in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a method of providing litigationmanagement in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example operating environment in which thepresent invention may function.

FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary communicationenvironment for a method performing in accordance with the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is now described with reference to the drawings,wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elementsthroughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It may be evident to one skilledin the art that the present invention may be practiced without thesespecific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devicesare shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate description ofthe present invention.

As used in this application, the term “component” is intended to referto a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardwareand software, software, or software in execution. For example, acomponent may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on aprocessor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution,a program, and a computer. By way of illustration, both an applicationrunning on a server and the server can be a component.

Referring to FIG. 1, a litigation management component 100 in accordancewith an aspect of the present invention is illustrated. The litigationmanagement component 100 includes a litigation room component 110 and acommunications component 120.

Turning briefly to FIG. 2, a litigation management system 200 inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention is illustrated. Thesystem 200 includes a litigation room component 110 and a communicationscomponent 120. The litigation management component 110 can access aplurality of law related services 130 ₁ through 130 _(N), N being aninteger greater than or equal to two. The plurality of law relatesservices 130 ₁ through 130 _(N) can be referred to collectively as theservices 130. Optionally, the system 200 can comprise one or more of theservices 130.

Returning to FIG. 1, the litigation management component 100 facilitatessecure access to the services 130. In one example, the litigationmanagement component 100 is used by a plurality of law practices (e.g.,firms) for legal work related to a particular client. In anotherexample, the litigation management component 100 is used by entities(e.g., attorneys, paralegals and/or secretaries) associated with aparticular law firm. In yet a third example, the litigation managementcomponent 100 is used by a plurality of law practices (e.g., firms)associated with a particular legal endeavor (e.g., transaction, caseand/or particular type of case). In a fourth example, the litigationmanagement component 100 is used by a plurality of law practices (e.g.,firms) to access software programs and/or associated data. For example,the litigation management component 100 can assist company(ies) and/orlaw firm(s) to develop a case information repository to facilitate themanagement of data for litigation.

The litigation management component 100 thus serves as a portal forsecure access to the services 130. The services 130 can include, forexample, an expert witness data store, a word processing system, alegacy computer system, a time entry system, a billing system, acollaboration tool, an accounts receivable accounting system, anaccounts payable accounting system, a document management system, a filemanagement system, a document storage system, a docketing system, a casemanagement system, an electronic research system, an e-mail system(e.g., encrypted e-mail), an instant messenger system, a court reporterdata store, a translation service system and/or a foreign servicesystem. Thus, the litigation management component 100 can reduce cost(s)associated with purchasing, leasing and/or maintaining services 130(e.g., software and/or hardware).

Referring briefly to FIG. 3, through the communications component 120,the litigation management component 100 can be securely accessed by alocal system 140 via, for example, the Internet, a parallel electricalconnection, a serial electrical connection, an intranet, a cabletelevision connection, a Digital Subscriber Line, a telephone line, acable modem, a wireless data communications link and/or an integratedservices digital network.

The communications component 120 facilitates secure communicationbetween the litigation room component 110 of the litigation managementcomponent 100 and the local system 140. For example, protocol(s) such asInternet Protocol Security (IPSEC), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and/orSecure HyperText Transfer Protocol (S-HTTP) can be employed by thecommunications component 120 to facilitate secure communication. It isto be appreciated that any type of secure communication protocolsuitable for carrying out the present invention can be employed and allsuch types of protocols are intended to fall within the scope of thehereto appended claims.

In one example, the litigation management component 100 provides asecure, integrated, web-based litigation toolset of services 130 (e.g.,software products). In this example, the litigation management component100 is accessed via the Internet from one or a plurality of localsystems 140.

Referring back to FIG. 1, in one example, the litigation managementcomponent 100 is used by a plurality of law practices (e.g., firms) forlegal work related to a particular client. As such, legal work for theparticular client can be performed in a more uniform, cost effective,efficient manner. For example, the litigation management component 100can provide secure access to a preferred document management system ofthe particular client and/or access to form(s) associated with theparticular client. Additionally, time entries can be securely enteredvia the litigation management component 100 and even billed to theparticular client in a manner suitable and/or approved, by theparticular client.

The litigation management component 100 can further provide secureaccess to an expert witness data store of expert witness(es), forexample, used on behalf of a particular client and/or used on behalf ofopponent(s) of the particular client. For example, the expert witnessdata store can provide information associated with expert witness(es)(e.g., curriculum vitae, case(s) in which the expert has written areport, case(s) in which the expert has been deposed, case(s) in whichthe expert has been qualified (or disqualified) to give trialtestimony). Additionally, the expert witness data store can facilitateaccess to article(s), report(s) and/or testimony of expert witness(es).

The litigation room component 110 can further provide secure access tolegacy computer system(s). In this manner, user(s) of the litigationmanagement component 100 can have access to current and/or previousversion(s) of software and/or hardware. Loading software onto one ormore computer systems can be a tedious, expensive experience. By havingappropriate legacy computer system(s) available, cost(s) associated withmaintaining computer system(s) can be significantly reduced.

The services 130 can include a document management system that can besecurely accessed via the litigation management component 100. In oneexample, document(s) generated by user(s) of the litigation managementcomponent 100 (e.g., word processing document(s), spreadsheet(s) and/ordatabase(s)) can be indexed, stored and/or accessed via a documentmanagement system. The document(s) generated by the user(s) can bestored on the local system 140 and/or on a data store (not shown)accessed via the litigation management component 100.

Services 130 securely accessible via the litigation management component100 can further include a time entry system. For example, an attorneyworking away from the office for extended period(s) of time (e.g., fordeposition and/or trial) can securely submit time entries via theInternet using his/her laptop computer and/or personal digital assistant(PDA).

A billing system is another example of a service 130 that can besecurely accessed via the litigation management component 100. Dataassociated with client billing can thus be maintained remotely and/orbacked up remotely, thus allowing for redundancy of data in case ofcatastrophic event(s) (e.g., fire, computer failure and/or naturaldisaster(s)). For example, in the event of a catastrophic event, thebilling system can be securely accessed via the Internet by anauthorized representative of a law firm at location remote from thelocation of the catastrophic event, thus reducing the likelihood of lostand/or improper billings.

The services 130 can further include collaboration tools, accountingsoftware (e.g., accounts receivable and/or accounts payable), a documentmanagement system, a word processing system, a file management system, adocument storage system, a docketing system, a case management system,an electronic research system, an e-mail system, an instant messengersystem, a court reporter data store, a translation service system (e.g.,name(s), address(es), telephone number(s), e-mail address(es) and/orhyperlinks to translation service(s))and/or a foreign service system(e.g., hyperlinks to appropriate legal authority, for example, the HagueConvention, name(s), address(es), telephone number(s), e-mailaddress(es) and/or hyperlink(s) to agents/attorneys in foreign countriesavailable for assisting in obtaining service of process upon entitieslocated in foreign countries).

Exemplary services 130 have been set forth for purposes of explanation;however, the present invention is not limited to implementation withregard to the listed exemplary services 130. It is to be appreciatedthat any type of law related services can be employed with thelitigation management component 100 and all such types of services areintended to fall within the scope of the hereto appended claims.

In one example, the litigation management component 100 facilitatessecure access to services 130 to a small firm and/or sole practitioner.The law related services 130 can be made available based, at least inpart, for example, upon a subscription level (e.g., per month fee, payper usage and/or user selection). Thus, even a sole practitioner canhave access to the services 130 without incurring the large capitalexpenditures typically associated with purchasing and/or leasing lawrelated services 130. The litigation management component 100 can be atechnology equalizer.

Turning to FIG. 4, a litigation management system 400 comprising alitigation management component 100 that provides secure access toservices 130 in accordance with an aspect of the present invention isillustrated. The litigation management component 100 provides secureaccess to the services 130 based, at least in part, upon a clientidentifier.

With regard to the system 400, the services 130 available to a user viaa local system 140 coupled to the litigation management component 100 isdependent upon a client identifier. For example, law firm(s) whichperform legal services for client A can be granted permission tosecurely access the litigation management component 100 utilizing aparticular client identifier (e.g., coupled with a password and/ortechnology for securely verifying identity and authorization). Based, atleast in part, upon the client identifier, information associated withservices 130 appropriate for use with client A are transmitted to alocal system. For example, the services 130 can include a calendarprogram for representative(s) of client A which law firm(s) can securelyaccess via the litigation management component 100 in order to scheduledeposition(s), document production(s) and/or trial date(s). Further,software approved for use with client A can further be securely accessedvia the litigation management component 100. The system 400 can beemployed by a plurality of law practices (e.g., firms) for legal workrelated to a client A. As such, legal work for client A can be performedin a more uniform, cost effective and/or efficient manner.

Referring briefly to FIG. 5, a litigation management system 500comprising a litigation management component 100 that provides secureaccess to services 130 in accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention is illustrated. The litigation management component 100provides secure access to the services 130 based, at least in part, upona user identifier.

In the system 500, the litigation management component 100 can be used,for example, by entities (e.g., attorneys, paralegals and/orsecretaries) associated with a particular law firm. The litigationmanagement component 100 can be accessed by user(s) of a local system140. Based, at least in part, upon the user identifier, the litigationmanagement component 100 can provide secure access to services 130. Forexample, partner(s) of the particular law firm can be granted greateraccess to data (e.g., associates' calendars, time entries and/or billingrecords), while associate(s) can be granted limited access to certainservices 130 and/or denied access to other services 130.

Next, turning to FIG. 6, a litigation management system 600 comprising alitigation management component 100 that provides secure access toservices 130 in accordance with an aspect of the present invention isillustrated. The litigation management component 100 provides secureaccess to the services 130 based, at least in part, upon a groupidentifier.

With regard to the system 600, the litigation management component 100can be securely accessed via a local system 140 by a plurality of lawpractices (e.g., firms) associated with a particular endeavor (e.g.,transaction, case and/or particular type of case), for example, based ona group identifier. Thus, based, at least in part, upon the groupidentifier, access to services 130 can be granted, limited and/ordenied. For example, a group of defense firms can employ the litigationmanagement component 100 to facilitate management of a particular caseor group of cases. The litigation management component 100 can be usedto store and/or communicate information to more efficiently manage thecase(s). Further, access to services 130 can further be based upon auser identifier along with the group identifier. Thus, for example,opposing counsel can be granted limited access to view document(s)responsive to a request for production of documents. The litigationmanagement component 100 can track which document(s) the opposingcounsel has viewed and/or printed. Costs associated with producing largevolumes of document productions can thus be reduced.

In yet another example, the litigation management component 100 is usedby a plurality of law practices (e.g., firms) to access softwareprograms and/or associated data. The litigation management component 100is accessed by a plurality of local systems 140. Capital and/ormaintenance expenditures associated with services 130 can thus be sharedacross the plurality of law practices.

In one example, the litigation room component 110 can employ a pluralityof suitable artificial intelligence (AI) based schemes in connectionwith providing a meaningful legal services related experience inaccordance with the subject invention. As used herein, the term“inference” refers generally to the process of reasoning about orinferring states of the system, environment, and/or user from a set ofobservations as captured via events and/or data. Inference can beemployed to identify a specific context or action, or can generate aprobability distribution over states, for example. The inference can beprobabilistic—that is, the computation of a probability distributionover states of interest based on a consideration of data and events.Inference can also refer to techniques employed for composinghigher-level events from a set of events and/or data. Such inferenceresults in the construction of new events or actions from a set ofobserved events and/or stored event data, whether or not the events arecorrelated in close temporal proximity, and whether the events and datacome from one or several event and data sources.

The litigation room component 110 can employ a classifier trainedexplicitly as well as implicitly so as to facilitate inferring a user'sintended goals in connection with using the subject invention. Variousclassification approaches include support vector machines (SVMs),Bayesian networks, decision trees, and probabilistic classificationmodels providing different patterns of independence may be employed.Text classification as used herein also is inclusive of statisticalregression that is utilized to develop models of priority.

According to one aspect of the invention Support Vector Machines (SVM),which are well understood, are employed as the classifier. It is to beappreciated that other classifier models may also be utilized such asNaive Bayes, Bayes Net, decision tree and other learning models. SVM'sare configured via a learning or training phase within a classifierconstructor and feature selection module. A classifier is a functionthat maps an input attribute vector, x=(x1, x2, x3, x4, xn), to aconfidence that the input belongs to a class—that is, f(x)=confidence(class). In the case of text classification, attributes arewords or phrases or other domain-specific attributes derived from thewords (e.g., parts of speech, presence of key terms), and the classesare categories or areas of interest (e.g., levels of priorities).

Thus, in this example, the litigation room component 110, afterreceiving certain attribute information (e.g., client code, name, natureof activity, etc.) can employ the aforementioned AI schemes to inferuser intention(s) and/or desire(s) in accordance with the subjectinvention. For example, upon a user selecting a particular service, thelitigation room component 110 can infer (e.g., based upon user input andother state information) related services that the user will need andfetch, cache such services in anticipation of the user need so as tofacilitate speed of the system as well as use, enjoyment and throughputof the system.

The invention can facilitate substantial reduction in legal fees forvarious entities. With respect to small entities (e.g., solopractitioners, small law firms etc.) the invention can aggregate variousentities within a particular portal and provide the aggregated groupvolume discounts—of course, sub-portals within the portal arecontemplated for security reasons. With respect to large organizations,the invention can provide a portal wherein vendors for that organizationconduct their respective tasks within the portal thereby mitigatingvendor mark-up of disbursements as well as wasteful use. Moreover, suchportal can greatly facilitate tracking of billable work by outside aswell as inside attorneys conducting work on behalf of the organization.

It is to be appreciated that the litigation management component 100,the litigation room component 110, the communications component 120, theservices 130, the local system 140, the litigation management system200, the litigation management system 300, the litigation managementsystem 400, the litigation management system 500 and/or the litigationmanagement system 600 can be computer components as that term is definedherein. Thus, it is to be appreciated that computer executablecomponents operable to implement the litigation management component100, the litigation room component 110, the communications component120, the services 130, the local system 140, the litigation managementsystem 200, the litigation management system 300, the litigationmanagement system 400, the litigation management system 500 and/or thelitigation management system 600 can be stored on computer readablemedia including, but not limited to, an ASIC (application specificintegrated circuit), CD (compact disc), DVD (digital video disk), ROM(read only memory), floppy disk, hard disk, EEPROM (electricallyerasable programmable read only memory) and memory stick in accordancewith the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 7, an exemplary user interface 700 in accordance withan aspect of the present invention is illustrated. The user interface700 includes a first service field 710 ₁, a second service field 710 ₂,a third service field 710 ₃, a fourth service field 710 ₄, a fifthservice field 710 ₅ and a sixth service field 710 ₆, collectivelyreferred to as the service fields 710. While the user interface 700 isdepicted with six service fields 710 ₁, 710 ₂, 710 ₃, 710 ₄, 710 ₅, 710₆, it is to be appreciated that any suitable quantity of service fields710 can be employed in accordance with the present invention. Forexample, the quantity of service fields can be based, at least in part,upon a subscription level, a client identifier, a user identifier and/ora group identifier. The service fields 710 are associated with lawrelated services (e.g., services 130).

In one example, the user interface 700 is displayed on a local system(e.g., personal computer, personal digital assistant and/or mobiletelephone). A user selects service(s) using, for example, a computermouse and/or pointing device. Based upon the user selection, law relatedservices (e.g., services 130) can be securely accessed by the user.

Turning to FIGS. 8 and 9, methodologies that may be implemented inaccordance with the present invention are illustrated. While, forpurposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown anddescribed as a series of blocks, it is to be understood and appreciatedthat the present invention is not limited by the order of the blocks, assome blocks may, in accordance with the present invention, occur indifferent orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from that shownand described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may berequired to implement the methodologies in accordance with the presentinvention.

The invention may be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed byone or more components. Generally, program modules include routines,programs, objects, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Typically the functionalityof the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired invarious embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 8, a method 800 of providing litigation management inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention is illustrated. At810, secure information associated with a plurality of law relatedservices (e.g., services 130) is received (e.g., by a local system). Forexample, the plurality of law related services can be based, at least inpart, upon at least one of a client identifier, a user identifier, asubscription level and a group identifier.

At 820, information associated with user input associated with at leastone of the plurality of law related services is securely provided (e.g.,to a litigation management component 100). At 830, informationassociated with at least one of the plurality of law related services isstored in a data store.

Next, turning to FIG. 9, a method 900 of providing litigation managementin accordance with an aspect of the present invention is illustrated. At910, information associated with a plurality of law related services(e.g., services 130) is securely provided (e.g., by a litigationmanagement component 100). The plurality of law related services can bebased, at least in part, upon at least one of a client identifier, auser identifier, a subscription level and a group identifier. At 920,information associated with user input associated with at least one ofthe plurality of law related services is securely received (e.g., from alocal system 140). At 930, information associated with at least one ofthe plurality of law related services is stored in a data store.

In order to provide additional context for various aspects of thepresent invention, FIG. 10 and the following discussion are intended toprovide a brief, general description of a suitable operating environment1010 in which various aspects of the present invention may beimplemented. While the invention is described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed byone or more computers or other devices, those skilled in the art willrecognize that the invention can also be implemented in combination withother program modules and/or as a combination of hardware and software.Generally, however, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular data types. The operating environment 1010 is onlyone example of a suitable operating environment and is not intended tosuggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of theinvention. Other well known computer systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with the invention includebut are not limited to, personal computers, hand-held or laptop devices,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers,distributed computing environments that include the above systems ordevices, and the like.

With reference to FIG. 10, an exemplary environment 1010 forimplementing various aspects of the invention includes a computer 1012.The computer 1012 includes a processing unit 1014, a system memory 1016,and a system bus 1018. The system bus 1018 couples system componentsincluding, but not limited to, the system memory 1016 to the processingunit 1014. The processing unit 1014 can be any of various availableprocessors. Dual microprocessors and other multiprocessor architecturesalso can be employed as the processing unit 1014.

The system bus 1018 can be any of several types of bus structure(s)including the memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus orexternal bus, and/or a local bus using any variety of available busarchitectures including, but not limited to, an 8-bit bus, IndustrialStandard Architecture (ISA), Micro-Channel Architecture (MSA), ExtendedISA (EISA), Intelligent Drive Electronics (IDE), VESA Local Bus (VLB),Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Universal Serial Bus (USB),Advanced Graphics Port (AGP), Personal Computer Memory CardInternational Association bus (PCMCIA), and Small Computer SystemsInterface (SCSI).

The system memory 1016 includes volatile memory 1020 and nonvolatilememory 1022. The basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basicroutines to transfer information between elements within the computer1012, such as during start-up, is stored in nonvolatile memory 1022. Byway of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory 1022 caninclude read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electricallyprogrammable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), or flashmemory. Volatile memory 1020 includes random access memory (RAM), whichacts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and notlimitation, RAM is available in many forms such as synchronous RAM(SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rateSDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), anddirect Rambus RAM (DRRAM).

Computer 1012 also includes removable/nonremovable, volatile/nonvolatilecomputer storage media. FIG. 10 illustrates, for example a disk storage1024. Disk storage 1024 includes, but is not limited to, devices like amagnetic disk drive, floppy disk drive, tape drive, Jaz drive, Zipdrive, LS-100 drive, flash memory card, or memory stick. In addition,disk storage 1024 can include storage media separately or in combinationwith other storage media including, but not limited to, an optical diskdrive such as a compact disk ROM device (CD-ROM), CD recordable drive(CD-R Drive), CD rewritable drive (CD-RW Drive) or a digital versatiledisk ROM drive (DVD-ROM). To facilitate connection of the disk storagedevices 1024 to the system bus 1018, a removable or non-removableinterface is typically used such as interface 1026.

It is to be appreciated that FIG. 10 describes software that acts as anintermediary between users and the basic computer resources described insuitable operating environment 1010. Such software includes an operatingsystem 1028. Operating system 1028, which can be stored on disk storage1024, acts to control and allocate resources of the computer system1012. System applications 1030 take advantage of the management ofresources by operating system 1028 through program modules 1032 andprogram data 1034 stored either in system memory 1016 or on disk storage1024. It is to be appreciated that the present invention can beimplemented with various operating systems or combinations of operatingsystems.

A user enters commands or information into the computer 1012 throughinput device(s) 1036. Input devices 1036 include, but are not limitedto, a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, touch pad,keyboard, microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, TVtuner card, digital camera, digital video camera, web camera, and thelike. These and other input devices connect to the processing unit 1014through the system bus 1018 via interface port(s) 1038. Interfaceport(s) 1038 include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, agame port, and a universal serial bus (USB). Output device(s) 1040 usesome of the same type of ports as input device(s) 1036. Thus, forexample, a USB port may be used to provide input to computer 1012, andto output information from computer 1012 to an output device 1040.Output adapter 1042 is provided to illustrate that there are some outputdevices 1040 like monitors, speakers, and printers among other outputdevices 1040 that require special adapters. The output adapters 1042include, by way of illustration and not limitation, video and soundcards that provide a means of connection between the output device 1040and the system bus 1018. It should be noted that other devices and/orsystems of devices provide both input and output capabilities such asremote computer(s) 1044.

Computer 1012 can operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer(s)1044. The remote computer(s) 1044 can be a personal computer, a server,a router, a network PC, a workstation, a microprocessor based appliance,a peer device or other common network node and the like, and typicallyincludes many or all of the elements described relative to computer1012. For purposes of brevity, only a memory storage device 1046 isillustrated with remote computer(s) 1044. Remote computer(s) 1044 islogically connected to computer 1012 through a network interface 1048and then physically connected via communication connection 1050. Networkinterface 1048 encompasses communication networks such as local-areanetworks (LAN) and wide-area networks (WAN). LAN technologies includeFiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Copper Distributed DataInterface (CDDI), Ethernet/IEEE 802.3, Token Ring/IEEE 802.5 and thelike. WAN technologies include, but are not limited to, point-to-pointlinks, circuit switching networks like Integrated Services DigitalNetworks (ISDN) and variations thereon, packet switching networks, andDigital Subscriber Lines (DSL).

Communication connection(s) 1050 refers to the hardware/softwareemployed to connect the network interface 1048 to the bus 1018. Whilecommunication connection 1050 is shown for illustrative clarity insidecomputer 1012, it can also be external to computer 1012. Thehardware/software necessary for connection to the network interface 1048includes, for exemplary purposes only, internal and externaltechnologies such as, modems including regular telephone grade modems,cable modems and DSL modems, ISDN adapters, and Ethernet cards.

FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of a sample computing environment1100 in accordance with the present invention can. The system 1100includes one or more client(s) 1110. The client(s) 1110 can be hardwareand/or software (e.g., threads, processes, computing devices). Theclient(s) 1110 can house cookie(s) and/or associated contextualinformation by employing the present invention, for example. The system1100 also includes one or more server(s) 1130. The server(s) 1130 canalso be hardware and/or software (e.g., threads, processes, computingdevices). The servers 1130 can house threads to perform transformationsby employing the present invention, for example. One possiblecommunication between a client 1110 and a server 1130 may be in the formof a data packet adapted to be transmitted between two or more computerprocesses. The data packet may include a cookie and/or associatedcontextual information, for example. The system 1100 includes acommunication framework 1150 that can be employed to facilitatecommunications between the client(s) 1110 and the server(s) 1130. Theclient(s) 1110 are operably connected to one or more client datastore(s) 1160 that can be employed to store information local to theclient(s) 1110 (e.g., cookie(s) and/or associated contextualinformation). Similarly, the server(s) 1130 are operably connected toone or more server data store(s) 1140 that can be employed to storeinformation local to the servers 1130.

Although the invention has been shown and described with respect tocertain illustrated aspects, it will be appreciated that equivalentalterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the artupon the reading and understanding of this specification and the annexeddrawings. In particular regard to the various functions performed by theabove described components (assemblies, devices, circuits, systems,etc.), the terms (including a reference to a “means”) used to describesuch components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated,to any component which performs the specified function of the describedcomponent (e.g., that is functionally equivalent), even though notstructurally equivalent to the disclosed structure, which performs thefunction in the herein illustrated exemplary aspects of the invention.In this regard, it will also be recognized that the invention includes asystem as well as a computer-readable medium having computer-executableinstructions for performing the acts and/or events of the variousmethods of the invention.

In addition, while a particular feature of the invention may have beendisclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, suchfeature may be combined with one or more other features of the otherimplementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given orparticular application. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms“includes”, “including”, “has”, “having”, and variants thereof are usedin either the detailed description or the claims, these terms areintended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising.”

What is claimed is:
 1. A litigation management component comprising: alitigation room component that serves as a portal for secure access to aplurality of law related services; and, a communications component thatfacilitates secure communication between the litigation room componentand a local system.
 2. The component of claim 1, the communicationscomponent and the local system communicating via at least one of theInternet, a parallel electrical connection, a serial electricalconnection, an intranet, a cable television connection, a DigitalSubscriber Line, a telephone line, a cable modem, a wireless datacommunications link and an integrated services digital network.
 3. Thecomponent of claim 1, the communications component employing at leastone of Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)and Secure HyperText Transfer Protocol (S-HTTP).
 4. The component ofclaim 1, the law related services comprising at least one of an expertwitness data store, a word processing system, a legacy computer system,a time entry system, a billing system, an accounts receivable accountingsystem, an accounts payable accounting system, a collaboration tool, adocument management system, a file management system, a document storagesystem, a docketing system, a case management system, an electronicresearch system, an e-mail system, an instant messenger system, a courtreporter data store, a translation service system and a foreign servicesystem.
 5. The component of claim 1, the plurality of law relatedservices being based, at least in part, upon a client identifier.
 6. Thecomponent of claim 1, the plurality of law related services being based,at least in part, upon a user identifier.
 7. The component of claim 1,the plurality of law related services being based, at least in part,upon a subscription level.
 8. The component of claim 1, the plurality oflaw related services being based, at least in part, upon groupidentifier.
 9. The component of claim 1, at least one of the pluralityof law related services storing information in a data store.
 10. Alitigation management system comprising: a plurality of law relatedservices; and, a litigation management component comprising a litigationroom component that serves as a portal for secure access to theplurality of law related services, and, a communications component thatfacilitates secure communication between the litigation room componentand a local system.
 11. The system of claim 10, further comprising thelocal system.
 12. The system of claim 10, the communications componentand the local system communicating via at least one of the Internet, aparallel electrical connection, a serial electrical connection, anintranet, a cable television connection, a Digital Subscriber Line, atelephone line, a cable modem, a wireless data communications link andan integrated services digital network.
 13. A method of providinglitigation management comprising: securely receiving secure informationassociated with a plurality of law related services; and, securelyproviding information associated with user input associated with atleast one of the plurality of law related services.
 14. The method ofclaim 13, the plurality of law related services comprising at least oneof f an expert witness data store, a word processing system, a legacycomputer system, a time entry system, a billing system, a collaborationtool, an accounts receivable accounting system, an accounts payableaccounting system, a document management system, a file managementsystem, a document storage system, a docketing system, a case managementsystem, an electronic research system, an e-mail system, an instantmessenger system, a court reporter data store, a translation servicesystem and a foreign service system.
 15. The method of claim 13, theplurality of law related services being based, at least in part, upon atleast one of a client identifier, a user identifier, a subscriptionlevel and a group identifier.
 16. The method of claim 13, furthercomprising storing information associated with at least one of theplurality of law related services in a data store.